All Posts On: Interiors

SketchCrawl 15: Berkeley   August 30th, 2007

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Spenger’s Restaurant [larger]

Last Saturday, August 25th, was the SketchCrawl #15 event. If you are not familiar with SketchCrawl, you can read all about it here. It’s a great concept: people sketch together in locations all over the world and share the results online. The idea is to get you sketching and it sure does!

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In Sur la Table [larger]

I joined the Berkeley group: eleven intrepid sketchers crawling the 4th Street commercial district. We found good subjects to sketch including street musicians, buildings old and new, storefronts, people milling around and hanging out and even a snake and reptile store.

Jana and I sketched together and it was great fun. I wanted to do a number of sketches but spent a lot of time talking to everyone 🙂 , so ended up inking my sketches on site and adding the color later that evening and the next day.

At the end of the day we gathered at Brennan’s and shared sketchbooks over Irish Coffees. It was a blast and so inspiring! If there is one thing I like better than sketching it’s the opportunity to see other peoples’ sketchbooks. It was great to meet new sketchers including Pete, who’s sketchblog I have long followed and admired, and to see friends Jana, Doña and Vern and family once again.

Fabulous sketches were done by the group, many of which can be seen here. And you can view other sketches done all over the world that day right here.

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House on 5th Street, Palm Tree [larger]

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4th and Hearst [larger]

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Down Home Music [larger]

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Peets Coffee [larger]

Some Photos of our Day:


Related:

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New York Sketchbook, 2007, Part Two   July 28th, 2007

Continued from: New York Sketchbook 2007, Part One

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Columbus Circle (larger)

I spent three days in New York on a solo SketchCrawl, following my nose and travel sketching all the way. It was unseasonably hot, and so muggy that even the locals were whining :). The weather somewhat curtailed my extensive walking plans but I still got quite a bit of exploring in.

I am especially enamored with Central Park. I drew the Columbus Circle scene while enjoying a scrumptious lunch (and air conditioning) at Bouchon Café, located in the Times Warner Building, suspended in an atrium with a huge glass wall looking down on the scene. Later, a barbershop quartet serenaded me as I sat in dappled shade and sketched the Model Boat Pond.

The Tudor City Greens is a small park near the World Trade Center that reminded me of small parks I saw on my Paris trip last year. On a wet, warm night I came across the “Second Avenue Farm”, a corner produce shop (2nd Ave & 50th) and couldn’t resist a quick sketch, even though I was being rained on 🙂 . (continued below)

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Model Boat House, Central Park (larger)

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Tudor City Greens (larger)

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Second Avenue Farm (2nd Ave & 51st) (larger)

Grand Central Station is buzzing, with way more people than I managed to get into my sketch! It is a beautifully restored Beaux Arts building, and features a gorgeous blue-green ceiling with astronomical constellations in gold. While I was sketching two well dressed business men, clearly strangers, conducting a discreet drug deal right next to me!

I enjoy creating illustrated journals on my travels. Doing so gives purpose to my trips, and also helps allay any guilt I might have about the expenses involved 🙂 . These days I am doing the sketches from the front of the books and some writing backwards from the end of the book. When they meet, it’s on to the next book! On this trip, with only four days for sketching, I managed to completely fill one of my sketchbook journals. This pleases me greatly. I start a new book at the beginning of each year and am now into Volume 4 for 2007.

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Grand Central Station (larger)

Other posts from this Trip:
     Planes and Trains
     Washington DC Sketchbook, Part One
     Washington DC Sketchbook, Part Two
     New York Sketchbook 2007, Part One
     New York Sketchbook 2007, Part Two

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Traveling: Planes and Trains   July 2nd, 2007

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Plane, Oakland to DC (larger)

Just got back from Washington D.C. and New York. I went for business but also had four days to SketchCrawl around. Despite a heat wave I persevered and made a bunch of new sketches. I’ll share them here as I can get them scanned in, but thought I’d start with the travel itself: two airplane trips and a train ride.

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Acela Express Train, DC to NY (larger)
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Plane, NY to Oakland (larger)

All posts from this Trip:
     Planes and Trains
     Washington DC Sketchbook, Part One
     Washington DC Sketchbook, Part Two
     New York Sketchbook, Part One
     New York Sketchbook, Part Two

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Around Berkeley   June 3rd, 2007

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Berkeley Public Library (larger)

Here are a couple of Berkeley sketches I made last Saturday in the downtown area, in between errands. The first is the airy reading room at the public library. The building was beautifully renovated recently, and its art deco roots are well preserved.

The library doesn’t have a cafe though, and so on to Peet’s Coffee across the street. I grabbed a quick sketch and a quick cappuccino!

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Peet’s, Downtown Berkeley (larger)

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New CĂ©sar on Piedmont   February 26th, 2007

CĂ©sar Sketch

The Bar CĂ©sar tapas place has a new location on Piedmont Avenue in Oakland. I finally got over there to check it out: very nice! They’ve got a whole wall of goodies, including these paella pans of various sizes.

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One Hundred Bottles of Wine on the Wall   February 8th, 2007


Sketch-Wine -Bottles

I always enjoy spending time in my favorite tapas bar, CĂ©sar, in the heart of Berkeley’s “Gourmet Ghetto”. It’s a foodies dream; the food is divine and the drinks superb.

It’s always packed in the evenings, but afternoons are calm and quiet. It’s also a fun place to sketch; this is the same restaurant where I did the tapas sketches that ended up on my note cards.

This sketch shows just one of the many wood lined pantries behind the bar. The sketch is done on half of a spread in my (reloaded) Pocket Moleskine, so it’s a small one. It still required a full glass to wine to complete, however!

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SketchCrawl 12.5: At Home   January 28th, 2007

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The Fireplace Mantle
Today was SketchCrawl 12.5. SketchCrawl is series of drawing events conceived by Enrico Casarosa. Usually a date is named and groups get together all over the world in different cities to spend the whole day sketching together, then everyone shares their sketches online. A SketchCrawl is like a pub crawl, except with sketching instead of (or in addition to!) drinking.

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Today’s crawl was a little different though. The idea was to have a mini SketchCrawl (and thus the in between numbering) where everyone stays at home to draw. I couldn’t spend the whole day drawing this time, but did manage three sketches.
In the Living Room
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In the Bathroom

People will be posting their SketchCrawl 12.5 work in the SketchCrawl Forums. There is also a SketchCrawl Flickr Group where you can find sketches from some crawl events.

Drawing for a full day is an intense experience. Doing so even when you don’t feel like it can yield some interesting, even positive, results. I am always completely wiped out at the end of such a day and others report the same. Such an immersion can really shake loose your drawing brain though and I highly recommend it.

Related:

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In the Kitchen   January 24th, 2007

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In the Kitchen (larger)

As I drew this, my husband and friends were cooking dinner and I was sitting on the carpet in their living room watching the kitchen. Although the sketch makes the room look empty, it was actually packed with cooks and movement. And, we had a scrumptious meal!

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Champagne Brunch   December 18th, 2006

We were at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco over the weekend and had Champagne Brunch in the beautiful Garden Court. What an amazing room; I could have sketched there for days.

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My New “Studio”   December 15th, 2006

I recently set up a small space dedicated to art by blocking off a section of our dining room with screens. My space is 4 X 12 feet, has a bay window with a beautiful green view, and is outfitted to my needs. I have a (very small) desk to work at, some storage for supplies and a big red armchair.

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Thai To Go   December 13th, 2006

A quick sketch while waiting for takeout at my favorite Thai restaurant, Cha-Am.

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Thanksgiving   November 25th, 2006

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Lately I’ve been thinking in threes. I’ve got triptychs on the brain. I decorated our sideboard for the holiday with three vignettes, and sketched them in little panels.

I’d like to put three large vertical images above the living room couch too, but haven’t figured out exactly what yet. Something big and bold and bright, for sure. living-room

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